Students

Undergraduate students from the Animal Behavior, Ecology, and Conservation department serve in various capacities on the Child Animal Relationships Lab team. They help conduct interviews, surveys, brainstorming sessions, and observations; they do transcriptions, coding, and analysis; and they help to write up and present findings. Each student develops various skills to not only help me conduct my research but to prepare them for future opportunities in employment or research. You can find out a little bit more about each student in these pages.

Chanel Davis

ABEC Research Assistant

I am a Senior ABEC/Environmental Studies major and I hope to work in conservation and environmental education. As a member of the child-animal relationships research team I transcribe and code qualitative data from interviews about the phenomenological experience of hunting and fishing.

Jo Riso

ABEC Research Assistant

I am a Junior ABEC major and want to work with zoos in the future. As part of the research team I help analyze the Buffalo Zoo’s educational programs and work with staff to ensure efficient and productive conservation work.

Carter Keegan

ABEC/EnvSt Research Assistant

I am a Sophmore ABEC/Environmental Studies major and I am interested in wildlife, conservation, and “lunatic farming.” My mission in life is to reconnect the world to nature and Temple Grandin says “People were animals, too, once, and when we turned into human beings we gave something up. Being close to animals brings some of it back.” I am inspired to bring back the connections between people, the environment, and other living beings.

Lindsey Bradley

ABEC Research Assistant

I am a Junior ABEC/Psychology dual major with a music minor and a masters concentration in general education. I observe YouTube videos of children hunting/fishing and observe their behaviors/reactions in regards to their first kills and relations between parents when hunting/fishing.

Lauren Bielby

ABEC Research Assistant

I am a Senior, double majoring in ABEC and Psychology. As part of the Child-Animal Research Team, I spend Tuesday mornings at the Buffalo Zoo observing the children enrolled in the Zoo’s preschool. Using ethnographic methods, I observe and take notes of the children’s play activities, embodiment or role play of animals, use of animal toys, language use related to animals, and interactions with animals both in the classroom and in the zoo.

Nick Morelli

ABEC Research Assistant

I am a Junior ABEC major. My work in the research lab involves looking at online hunting education guides and documents in order to do a content analysis looking at the language used around animals, including emotional (or emotion-less) descriptions, imagery and representations of animals, and ethical content.

Alex Walter

ABEC Research Assistant

I am a Junior ABEC and Psychology major with a minor in Zoo Biology and I want to work as a professor. As part of the Child-Animal Relationships Team, I study child interviews about hunting and fishing.